A computer system employs hardware devices for various functions, such as data input and output, printing, display, etc. Each hardware device in the computer system is typically operated through its associated device driver, which is typically provided by the vendor of the hardware device and loaded as part of the operating system. The device driver allows the operating system of the computer and applications running on the computer to communicate with the device and control its operations. The device driver is device-specific in that it is written to handle the specific behavior of the device. On the other hand, the device driver also has to be written according to specifications and requirements of the operating system with which the driver is to be used.
Although the quality of the device driver for a hardware device is critical to the proper operation of the device, many hardware vendors find it difficult to put in the significant time and resources needed to adequately develop a device driver. As a result, device drivers provided by hardware vendors are often of unsatisfactory quality and require extensive fixing before they can be used with the operating system. This problem is especially significant for models with low profit margins. For example, flatbed color scanners are commonly used for capturing color images for incorporation in presentations and communications. Some low-end models of flatbed scanners have rather low retail prices, which limit the resources their vendors could reasonably spend on writing device drivers for them.
The difficulty in obtaining well-developed device drivers is exacerbated by the need to include many device drivers with an operating system. One of the goals of modern operating systems is to provide an “out-of-the-box” experience, where an end user can simply connect a device to her computer and the device will work without the need to install any extra software. To provide such an experience, an operating system typically includes many device drivers from different hardware vendors. Due to the large number of device drivers involved, the time and resources required to test and fix the drivers to ensure their proper operations can become unacceptably high. Accordingly, there is a need for a new approach in developing device drivers that makes it significantly easier for hardware vendors to develop high-quality device drivers.